bariforhire

What is this? the most controversial person on RAMD and DCP sidestepping an issue? OK Lee, I assume that your lack of a reply is because you are afraid you may offend someone, or an organization that your corps is associated with. I fully understand Lee. I just thought because you specialize in this area of the law, you might enlighten us with your thoughts. Oh wait, maybe you were the one who wrote this agreement.

You have addressed just one point Lee, and on that I have to agree, but why don't you read over the entire agreement and give us your professional opinion on the entire contract? I asked for you to address the issues I raised and you seemed to ignore everything except the ASCAP issue which we knew was coming for quite some time now. What say you Lee?

I just read the agreement form that all the mini corps have to sign and agree to. I'm no lawyer but it looks like a win-loose situation in favor of DCA to me. Each mini corps has to pay ASCAP whatever amount for the rights to play their book and also must provide proof of at least one million dollars of liability insurance. They also must assign all video and audio rights to DCA along with the right for DCA to use the corps' name, likeness, image and so on to promote said video and audio of the performances. To make a long story short, each mini corps has to fulfill the same agreement as the competitive corps, and grant DCA all rights to the performance and still has to pay $100 in order to perform. besides there is a clause that gives DCA the right to transfer to any third party, the rights you are granting DCA. In return the corps has the right to perform and compete for a chunk of metal tied to a red ribbon. In my opinion it sort of takes the fun out of the whole event. I would like to hear the views of Lee the Entertainment Lawyer, and some MCA officials. It seems to me that the mini corps are giving away the store at their expense and not receiving adequate compensation in return. What say you?

I'm bett'n DCA decides to increase the finals to 12 corps and Cru, Hurcs and Grennies all make it. Plan on finals being a half hour longer.

I'm bett'n DCA decides to increase the finals to 12 corps and Cru, Hurcs and Grennies all make it. Plan on finals being a half hour longer.

The naming of the location of DCA 2006 being announced in a few days tells me the rumors I heard in W/S are not true. I heard from several sources that if the show didn't draw at least 4500 people, all bets were off and DCA would be left with only Syracuse's bid and would therefore consider a bid from an organizing group in Rochester, NY to host the Championships. I know there are a lot of PO'd folks that still remember the fiasco at Frontier Field in 96. The main problem with that was the organizers laid out the field so as to make use of every seat in the house, which made all the seats bad for viewing especially the seats on the 50 which were the farthest from the field. I totally agree that 96 was a disaster, but in years past many DCA championships were held in Rochester and everyone loved coming to Aquinas/Hollindar stadium and they loved being in Rochester. So now forget about 96's "Fiasco at Frontier" and consider an alternative that is better than any previous championships ever. The Rochester Raging Rhino's USL Soccer Team is in the final stages of building a brand new "soccer specific" 17,000 seat Paetec Park, which will be completed by the end of this year and will be ready in April of 2006 to host events such as Drum and Bugle Corps Competitions. This state of the art Stadium is perfect for Drum Corps events and will have 8500 seats in the West side with 2 tiers and a roof overhead, a press box and 20 luxury boxes. The seats are individual movie theater type seats (without the padding I assume), and the seating is at a steep angle for up close viewing. I have included a link with lots of pictures that give you a pretty good idea of what the stadium looks like now, and a conception of completion. Notice how close the stadium is to the heart of downtown and the High Falls district where there is more fine dining and night life than anyone could ever want. Paetec Park I remember all the good times when DCA Championships came to Rochester and I know if DCA came here in 2006, Rochester would become the permanent home of DCA championships once again, provided the organizers have their act together. Let's look at Rochester as a possible solution to the situation we are in right now. Even though 96 was a disaster, I am told there were 10,000 seats sold for finals that year. That is a number that would assure DCA's success and certainly W/S would never draw near that amount. Football type field with state of the are turf, great consessions good seating, great city in the heart of the activity, wonderful location for I&E's, major airport, lots to see and do while in town. Assured of large crowds which means more money in the corps' pockets. What's not to like about Rochester? :)

My wife and I were in W/S this past weekend and here is my take. At 1pm on Saturday, we drove to the stadium to purchase tickets. There was absolutely nothing going on except a meeting of DCA officials on the 50 yard line. after walking half way around the stadium and back, we finally asked a man standing near a small ticket booth where the advance sales were and he said I am it. So we walked around the fence to the outer path and walked up to the window. I could tell we were the first ones there because I had to remove spider webs and fall leaves from the opening in the window. I asked the man for something in the Premier section ($26) around rows DD to AAA (The stadium is so high, they go through the alphabet 3 times). He went to his ticket master computer which took 10 minutes to make the proper communication, and after much searching he told me there were no seats available in the Premier section at all. Now mind you this section starts about row N and runs all the way to the top and between the 35's. each row span was 4 sections 16 seats per section. That encompasses some 4000 seats. So I asked for seats in the first 15 rows A through M, ($17) and he came back with the same results, all sold out, that is another 1000 seats. So I figure there is 5000 seats sold in advance already. So I tell the wife, let's hold off and come back early tonight and we will see if any tickets were turned in or maybe someone is stuck with extra tickets and is trying to sell them. Then we can eat stadium food and have a beer or two while we socialize and visit the souvie booths before the show. We show up at the stadium at 5:30pm pay our $7 to park, go to the same obscure ticket booth with the same guy and nobody in line. We go through the same process and still nothing. I look around and there is no one selling extra tickets, so I tell the guy, give me the best two seats you have above DD. we go in and the first thing we do is look for some good stadium food and a cold beer. we soon found out that every concession stand sold the same things, hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and soda. and there were a couple of carts that had ice cream bars, lemon aid and frozen lemon aid. Another thing I noticed was every stand was manned by a bunch of little kids who could hardly see over the counters and there were swarms of them in every stand and they were all eating the profits. No one was wearing rubber gloves and they had cardboard signs sitting on the counters stating "Jesus Loves You." So we get two hot dogs and two sodas ($12) The soda was warm the hot dog buns were hot and soggy, must have been kept in some sort of steam warmer. Did I mention no beer? So now the sky opens up for about the tenth time since we arrived on Thursday and it proceeds to pour for the next hour. It rained so hard that water was pouring out of the tunnels and into the concession area that looked like small raging rivers. When the rain slowed down we decide to go check out our seats. the stadium security tells us we must remain under the stands until the singing of the national anthem because there was lightning in the area and the stands are metal. OK so when we finally get to our so called seats on about the 20 yard line, and there is a family sitting in our seats. this is funny because looking around, there are no more than 500 people in the whole place. Well, these people refused to move, so we just sat as close to our assigned seats as we could and hoped we weren't sitting in someone else's seats. Did I mention the seats were bleacher type benches? I hope you all consider this fact because by the end of the night we were quite uncomfortable. Not to mention the spacing was very close which is why that family was in our seats, they had to use extra space for their rain gear and backpacks and so on. So as the early part of the show progressed a few hundred people, Mainly large groups of what looked to me to be local street gangs just sat in any place they wanted to within the premier section. It really looked fishy to me, because you could tell these people were never at a DC show in their life. They paid no attention to what was going on show wise. They were high five'n all the other large groups and talking to friends two sections over. If I had to guess, I would say a large number of tickets were given away just to get butts in the seats. after a while, Fran Haring, the announcer told everyone they could move to any empty seats closer to the 50. We moved over and sat in the exact seats we originally wanted and 90% of the seats around us were still empty. That also seems fishy after being told twice during the day that the whole center section was sold out. I have never seen that large of a no show under any conditions. The show was never in threat of cancellation that I know of. I know if I paid $26 a seat to take my family to an event, I would certainly show up. Something is just not right about this whole thing. I would estimate there was no more than 5 to 7 hundred paying customers in the whole place and that is a stretch IMHO. I would like to know where those 5000 advance ticket sales were, and if there were not 5000 advance tickets sold, than why couldn't I purchase a decent seat all day long? Did I mention you could not even have a beer in the parking lot? so much for any tailgate parties. I never did see a trash can in the parking lot or anywhere around the outside of the stadium. I just hope the DCA "powers that be," can filter through all the smoke and mirrors and look at the books, or as the proverb goes "always follow the money." I personally think a W/S finals would be a huge mistake. I know they opened up their hospitality and made things smooth for the corps, but how about the people that will be paying the bills? Will they really show up when the numbers count? You can't count on the locals to pay $40 a ticket. Other people have mentioned the lack of entertainment and places to have a good southern meal, so I won't even go there. All I can say is, I would never go back under any conditions.

Huh? This is your thread. You are the one that asked the question Strutta. Now you are going to take offense when I give you the answer? As a matter of fact it worked out quite well for Future corps for a lot of years until Disney decided to go in a different direction. So again I don't understand where you are coming from. Maybe you can enlighten this poor old sole. I wish I could say the Ghost Riders are going to win, but after going to the mountain...I am now a true believer. If you don't want the truth, don't ask the question. BTW, did I mention that the Bucs are unbeatable this year?

Anyone that was at LMS South Friday night knows who will win mini corps this year. I saw a 19 person assembleage that could hang with the best of Future Corps. 2005 makes 2001 and 2003 look like warm-ups. Man, my ears are still ringing.

How about this quote? "There is NO WAY ON GOD'S EARTH THAT WE LOST TO THE "GHOSTBUSTERS." NO WAY! " I don't think the folks in GR think that remark was made in fun. And as far as you thinking you are speaking for the "unbiased majority", the world extends beyond the boundaries of Erie, PA. You have not only managed to provoke a lot of fine people, you have managed to make the Thunderbird organization look like a bunch of whining sore losers, and that image will extend far beyond the boundaries of Erie, PA my friend. I have a lot of friends in the T-birds… Jeff, Gary, Tommy even Ralph when he is sober. I would hope they are not part of your so-called “unbiased majority”. I am not going to lower myself to your level by slinging mud at you or the organization you are representing, and yes weather you intend to or not, your remarks reflect on your organization, but I will ask that you consider an apology for the remarks you have made and refrain from the constant negative remarks toward other mini corps. We are all brothers and the competition should be left on the field/parking lot. I tip my beer to all my good friends in all mini corps. Rock on Brothers & Sisters

This is very helpful. I am printing it out and taking it with me. We will be at the Greensboro airport at 12:30pm tomorrow. Sounds like Texas Pete and a Red Oak for lunch. Thanks very much

Very nice story Lisa, Reading this is like being there. I felt the pain. I am looking forward to one #### of a showdown this weekend. See ya'll thar. Part of #29's immediate family

Will the real Donny "Batman" Allen Please stand up. Never could stop wearing that black cape could you Donny...LOL Best of luck to you and all the CRU this weekend. Can't wait to see ya all at Aquinus/Wegman Stadium on the 2nd.

I am wondering how this piece of self indulgence is setting the record straight about Phoenix. It seems the only piece of information about the corps' accomplishments, is in error.

I will be sure to give them your best Donny. BTW... thank you so much for all your help with the HOF. It's true, the squeeky wheel gets the grease. This should be a summer to remember for Ace and his lovely bride of 50 years, Phylis. Best of luck to you, Mike & Cru this summer you all deserve it. Sorry I will not be in Long Island...LOL :P

Hey Donny, I can't make it to Long Island, I am going to Ace and Phyl's 50th...LOL

from 1963 to 1965, St. Joseph's of Batavia managed to beat at least once, every top corps in the country except one, Cavies. St. Joe's lost to Cavies by .1 in Mommence, ILL in 1964, while beating Royal airs, Kilts, Madison, and Skokie in the same show. St. Joe's broke into the top ten elite in 1963 when they beat Opti and Garfield for the first time in Syracuse. They also beat the corps that won VFW Nationals within a week of nationals in both 64 and 65. That was Kilties in 64 and Royal Airs in 65. St. Joe's took top drums in the 1968 VFW Nationals. 8 times NYS American Legion Champs, 4 times NY - Canadian Champs. No doubt Mighty St. Joe's was the best that NY State ever had in Junior Corps ranks. Been there, done that St. Joseph's of Batavia 1963 - 1966

I heard Mass Brass rocked the house. Is that right Strutta?

I have one word for you Donny, DEPENDS

Stacy, It just dawned on me that between you and Brian, you must have 10 DCA Championships. WOW, That has to be a record. I can't imagine any other couple having ten rings. I think Brian also has a DCI Div II Championship if I am not mistaken.

Good luck Donny. the worse part will be not being able to smoke while you are in the hospital. You should be back playing golf in a week. LOL :lolhit:

Sounds like Phoenix rising from the ashes. Keep it going, there's still a lot of old horses out there that you can throw a saddle on. Right Donny?

A little too much information there Dale b**bs

Just a follow-up. Since I wrote the original post I was able to find a teriffic mp3 of the 1976 Saints. IMHO the horn line was even better than in 1975. What a shame they didn't survive. In another time and another place, this corps could have been one of the top contenders, but unfortunatly look at all the great corps we had in that era (75-76).